This book's unique art style brings a new breath of life to the timeless classic! If you know a teen who has a hard time reading longer novels, this could help them gain appreciation for the story that Hugo sets up without overwhelming them. It's a very emotive style that makes the characters feel lively while also condensing much of the thick descriptions that Hugo uses in his novel to make it friendly for younger readers. It's an excellent stepping stone between graphic novels and classic literature. My only complaint about the graphic novel is personal, and it's more that I don't enjoy the art style as much. But it's still well-done, just not what I personally like. Overall, would recommend for bright, but reluctant readers!

This has been my favorite Manga Classics adaptation to read so far. The artwork is gorgeous throughout, with the styles subtly tweaked to match various character personalities. Fantine and Cosette were particularly well-rendered. My heart swelled with so much affection and intimacy that I want to revisit the novel as well as the movie soon.

Les Misérables is one of my favorite books ever, and I was very excited to read this one. Adapting a book of more than one thousand pages is always a challenge and I think this manga did a pretty good job of it. If someone without any knowledge of Les Misérables would read this manga, it'd give them the most important part of the story and many others. Of course, I found some scenes missing in this that are pretty important in the story and can give us more perception of some characters, but I know not everything can be in an adaptation. 

For the art, I found it quite pretty but maybe not the most adapted for this story? The characters were quite round and I expected more personal traits to each of the main characters.

So, if you don't know anything about Les Mis but want to know without reading the gigantic book, this manga is a faithful, nice adaptation. And if you already know (and love) Les Mis, this will be a nice read too!

The illustration is really pretty. I went into this book with knowing nothing about the book or the plot. But I came out loving this book a lot. I definitely want to see the theater now that I read this book.

Another manga that depicts one of the best stories ever written, sung, danced and told. I love The Miserables and the manga version does not disappoint. I loved the characters, the drawings, the pace of the story...I would definitely recommend this one, and most probably, not being a fan of manga itself, I will buy this one soon

I received Les Miserables from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 
Ever since I had seen the musical adaptation of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables, I really wanted to read the novel. The problem is... the novel is over 1000 pages. I felt so lucky to happen upon the manga adaptation of Les Miserables. It was like experiencing the novel as an appetizer. I have renewed my resolve to read Hugo's novel, eventually. 
Les Miserables takes place  in France during the French revolution. Amid the revolution, a Jean Valjean tries to protect himself and his daughter, Cosette from the relentless inspector Javert who will stop at nothing to put Valjean back in jail. Meanwhile, Cosette has fallen in love with Marius, the mysterious gentleman she often sees while on walks with her father. Marius is equally as enamoured with Cosette, but he has other obligations to the revolution. 
As the novel is extremely long, the plotline is very complex with an array of characters. I was surprised how the manga was able to condense the events of the novel seamlessly without quickly speeding through the action of the revolution and the romance between Marius and Cosette. 
I would recommend this manga to those, like me, who want to attempt to read Hugo's Les Miserables one day.

Thanks to NetGalley and UDON Entertainment for the opportunity to read and review Manga Classics!  Manga Classics include Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, which is true to the original classic with added cliffhangers to keep manga readers interested and eye-catching illustrations. After the story ends, the details of adaptation from classic literature to manga lets us see into the transformation.  Each story in this collection follows these same guidelines!  Impressive artwork and transformation!
Manga Classics also include The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling, Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (the only color is the scarlet letter A, which makes striking illustrations!), Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, The Stories of Edgar Allan Poe: The Tell-Tale Heart, The Raven. The Cask of Amontillado, The Masque of the Red death and The Fall of the House of Usher; Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens and many more!
5 stars for books that make classics accessible and understandable to every reader!

I have never read the original Les Miserables or watched the movie, so this was the first time I heard the story. I really liked it.

There was lots of tension in the story that I wasn’t expecting. There were also some mature themes, such as child abuse and prostitution. I always thought it was just a sad story, but the tense twists were very good.

I liked the art in this graphic novel too. It follows the same design of the other Manga Classics. Each of the characters were distinctly drawn. I loved the way Cosette looked. She was so adorable!

I really enjoyed this graphic novel. Now I want to read the original book!

What a phenomenal way to read the classics! Gorgeous illustrations, and I loved practicing reading manga (I am, admittedly out of practice) I adore the story of Les Miserables and this was a triumph of an adaptation. 

Kudos!

I'm a pretty huge fan of Les Miserables, so I was pretty excited when I was approved for this on NetGalley! Now, I don't read manga often, so I don't know the conventions, but on a whole I really enjoyed this and thought it was a decent adaptation. Obviously, there's no way to really put a 500,000 word novel into a 300 page adaptation, even if a picture is worth a thousand words, but the themes and tone were kept well intact. 

It did look like that it was guided by the musical movie in a lot of places for the major beats in the story, though it was certainly elaborated on with many moments from the book - such as Chapmanthieu, and Valjean's second stint in prison and his subsequent escape, and other moments which I'd forgotten about: such as being smuggled out of the convent in a coffin. A lot of the Marius plotlines were condensed from the book but much closer than the musical adaptation. I also appreciate the scene where Cosette cries while Marius puts his head against a tree, and Enjolras and Grantaire's death also close to the Brick's (though for those who are not as familiar with the story, this might have been confusing due to Grantaire appearing once before this happens). Another thing I liked is that there were a couple digressions on history, which ... yeah, if you've read Les Mis, you'll know about Victor Hugo and his digressions. So I thought it was apt for retaining the spirit of the original novel as well as giving the readers some really good background information. 

I liked the art as well, and I think it generally fit with the book descriptions of the characters. I noticed that Marius actually has dark hair like he does in the original novel, and I loved how Enjolras was drawn. He's described as feminine and angelic-looking in the book, and this manga really hit the mark with Enjolras's depiction. The Thenardiers do not escape caricaturish drawings in this, which is pretty consistent through all animated depictions of them. And this is being nitpicky as a fan of the original novel, but Cosette is drawn as blonde, while in the novel she's a brunette - but honestly, she's portrayed as blonde in a lot of adaptations.

Les Miserables is such a complex book that it's difficult to adapt, but for anyone who's familiar with the musical, this is definitely a nice expansion and introduction to the book.

This story is beautifully drawn, and tragic in such a wonderful way. The manga format definitely makes Les Miserables more approachable, and I'd definitely recommend it, especially for young adult readers who may be having trouble reading it in novel format.

This book tells the story of Cosette, the child of a single mother, and her ruin.

The book's art is beautiful, something I've expected, given that it's a part of a series I've come to love.

The story itself is amazing. It's very engaging and as sad as I expected (the name's literally The Miserable Ones...).

The ending caught me off guard, though, I always thought it would be sadder.

The characters are very interesting. We have the usual tropes (loving mother, evil mother substitute, redeemed criminal and angel child who suffers too much and is too good for this world) however, they feel real. They're also quite strong, something I didn't expect, I always thought they'd be passive.

Now, I really want to read the original novel, all thanks to this adaptation.

Rating: 5 stars

This was a surprising adaption. Although I’m not entirely familiar with the story which is why I chose to read it in this form. But I was rather surprised at the scope and disappointed at the lack of closure.

I mean, the ending is just hanging there with no real conclusion in my eyes. But the story, the flashbacks all feel so real and true. It felt as though I was truly understanding them.

Cosette’s back story, Marius and his history regarding his father and grandfather. Who were interesting people to say the least. Cosette’s mother and Jean Valjean. This were all interesting stories which touched me.

The art style was rather nice and suitable. Similar to many styles but having its own touch.

But I just found the ending and the story a little confusing. As there was plenty of flashbacks but not much on characters or even the actual core. I don’t even know whether this was because of adaptation or whether the original story was like this.

But the story have its moments albeit confusing and lacking a conclusion which I can say goodbye to.

3.5/5

I've always loved reading manga. It's a thing I get teased about in school (all in good humour, of course), but I truly love the style and the art and those hilarious reactions of some characters.

I have not read Les Mis. I tried to, but the writing style was just too difficult, and I remember I'd been crammed with work by then, so I'd just left it. I could read it if I wanted to, but I always get discouraged when I look at the 1200-something pages. I have watched a bit of the musical though, as well as the movie, so I'd known about half the plot when I'd started reading this.

While I have never finished the musical, I can tell that that the author and all the people involved did their best to get the facts as accurate and correct as possible. The first half of the plot, the one I did know, was presented like how I remember it, so the accuracy of this adaptation isn't an issue at all.

In fact, I think this is a good read for those who don't want to get through a thick book, or watch the musical/the movie. It's fast, and gets the most important parts of the story, while maintaining the poignancy of it all. Some scenes were really heart-breaking for me.

Whether you would like it or not, however, depends on you. A lot of people aren't used to the manga style, so they may not find this enjoyable. Others may not want to read a dark, touching tale in such a format. However, there are some issues that I came across, which kind of spoiled the experience for me.

To start with, the art of Cosette as a child, compared to the art of Cosette as an adult, are both very similar. In fact, I think there's hardly a difference, besides the height; she still looks a lot like a twelve-year-old. This becomes even more off-putting when she starts to fall in love.

Not to mention, the story is very fast-paced. We jump from oppressed-and-abused-Cosette to happy-and-in-love-Cosette real fast. And then comes the fight for freedom, and Jean moving away and coming back-and while I loved the illustrations of the scenes and the portrayal of every character's joy/pain/disappointment, I do wish another hundred or so pages were added to give the reader some time to process what was happening. Of course, it's impossible to include every thing from a 1200-page classic into a manga-kinda like how it is when making a movie based on a book-but more development would have been welcome, as well as more background info on some secondary characters.

Nevertheless, I did enjoy this adaptation; the artwork is really beautiful, and it's really faithful to the original plot. Looking forward to reading more of these!

(Thanks to Netgalley and UDON Entertainment for providing me with an e-copy in exchange for an honest review.)

I found this manga version of one of my favourite books beautiful. The story is condensed to the main events but easy to follow and it flowed flawlessly. The pictures speak for themselves and they're art.

I love these manga classics! I was never into Les Miserables, but this made me realize how good it is. As always, this manga made me interested in a classic that I probably would not pick up in its original form.

Its so exciting to see classics in a new format! Combining my love of classics and manga! Beautifully illustrated!

I quite liked this adaptation. I've always found Les Misérables to be pretty tough going, and the tragedy tended to overwhelm its beauty, so the stripped down format and much faster pacing of a graphic novel/manga version works much better for me. It still touches on the tragedy and fits in much of the complexity, while exposing the story structure more plainly. Also, it's pretty. Great way to introduce a classic in a more accessible way.

The Manga Classic adaptation of Les Misérables condenses one of the greatest novels of the 19th century into a graphic novel that is both accessible and enjoyable for readers of any age.

I was nervous about reading this story because I thought it would be filled with long narratives and drawn-out plots, however, I finished Les Misérables faster than either of the previous titles in the Manga Classics series.

This interpretation of Les Misérables is one of the best ways to introduce readers to the story of Jean Valjean. With its focused storytelling and beautiful illustrations, exploring France from 1813 to 1832 has never been so enjoyable.

Les Misérables is a depressing story about freedom, justice, religion, and love. The seemingly endless struggles of the main characters are difficult to experience, no matter how it’s being presented to the audience.

I found myself relating more to the characters in the manga because of their child-like features that are contrasted with the violence that surrounds them. One of the strongest elements of this art style is how people are illustrated with so much personality and expression.

The Manga Classics version of Les Misérables is my new favourite way to experience this renowned story. With beautiful illustrations and a perfectly condensed narrative, readers of all ages should check this graphic novel out.

For a different take on this adaptation, check out this review on Kimyouna Onna. This concludes the third part of my Manga Classics review series. Check back tomorrow for the next entry in the series, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.